


The SAO Experiment: Ignition

by OrielVarus



Category: Sword Art Online (Anime & Manga)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-14
Updated: 2020-09-21
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:40:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25255534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OrielVarus/pseuds/OrielVarus
Summary: The date was November 6th, 2022. On that day, over 20,000 people logged into the servers of Sword Art Online for the first time. On that day, 20,000 people all over Japan became trapped in a virtual world. On that day, the Sword Art Online experiment began. And while there were many legends borne out of this incident, the Black Swordsman, The Lightning Flash, this is the story of someone else. One whose initial path followed our beloved Kirito, but chose another path when a great tragedy befell them. This is the story of the Reaper of Aincrad, one whose name would live on in infamy with the SAO survivors, and whose actions would have consequences in the years that followed their escape from the death game.
Relationships: Kirigaya Kazuto | Kirito/Yuuki Asuna | Asuna, original - Relationship
Kudos: 2





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> All characters and story references belong to Reki Kawahara and associated companies. This story is meant to be a parody, and should be treated as such. Please go and support the official SAO content. Enjoy the story! :)

Akihiko Kayaba sat at his desk as lines upon lines of code scrolled in front of him on his monitor. He needed to make sure everything was perfect for the launch tomorrow. 

‘And so the grand experiment begins,’ he thought to himself. His life’s work, starting from when he was a freshman in university. The countless hours he invested in this project. The sacrifices he made. The people he left behind. He paused in his musings to look at a picture on his desk. One with him and his one-time lover, Dr.Rinko Koujiro. 

‘She’s better off without me,’ he thought, turning his attention back to the console in front of him. The screen flashed and a message appeared in front of him, letting him know that there were no issues with the launch version of the game. With tired eyes, he began removing the logout function from the game menu and ran the tests one more time. 

‘Soon,’ he thought, ‘Soon, all my questions will be answered.’ Once the monitor confirmed the game was bugless, he got up from his chair and walked to his window. Looking over the vast wilderness below him, he took in the wonderful beauty of the real world for what he assumed would be the last time in many years. After a few minutes of gazing out his window, Kayaba returned to his computer and launched the servers for Sword Art Online, his experiment disguised as a video game. He then prepped his NerveGear, one that had the kill switch turned off, and with one final look around his room, he dove into his new virtual home for the foreseeable future. 

As he felt his mind get dragged into the virtual world, he couldn’t help but feel a small sense of excitement for what was to come. After all, who wouldn’t want to play god in their own world?

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The date was November 6th, 2022. On that day, over 20,000 people logged into the servers of Sword Art Online for the first time. On that day, 20,000 people all over Japan became trapped in a virtual world. On that day, the Sword Art Online experiment began. And while there were many legends borne out of this incident, the Black Swordsman, The Lightning Flash, this is the story of someone else. One whose initial path followed our beloved Kirito, but chose another path when a great tragedy befell them. This is the story of the Reaper of Aincrad, one whose name would live on in infamy with the SAO survivors, and whose actions would have consequences in the years that followed their escape from the death game.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hello everyone! As you can already see, this is not your normal SAO story. If you came here to read an alternate story about Kirito and his adventures, you came to the wrong place. I do not want to rewrite the entirety of the SAO storyline, I simply wish to go through it from a different perspective. Many of the events in the original story will happen in this as well, only told from a different POV. I will be adding a lot of OCs and some of the characters will be OOC as well, but I will try my best not to alter them too much. The main character of this story is my own OC. Please enjoy the story that follows, and leave a review if you would like.


	2. The Beginning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Omicron finds himself and his best friend stuck inside of SAO

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All characters and story references belong to Reki Kawahara and associated companies. This story is meant to be a parody and should be treated as such. Please go and support the official SAO content. Enjoy the story! :)

Omicron was having a really bad day. Well, he's had a bad week but this day really is the worst of it all. As if being stuck in a video game wasn’t bad enough. Now he had to deal with these so-called Player Killers gunning after him and his best friend. He ducked under another swing before meeting one with his blade. Seriously, what the hell was up with these people? Out of the corner of his eye, he saw one rushing towards him with a dagger and jumped back to avoid it. 

‘If I don’t end this fast, things are going to get real bad,’ he thought. Making a split-second decision, he leaped backward before he started sprinting towards the exit to the forest. ‘If I can just make it back to town, I’ll be safe,’ he thought as he heard his attackers quickly pursuing him. Bursting through the treeline, he made a beeline towards the nearest town as he heard the footsteps getting closer. ‘Come on, just a little bit further,’ he frantically thought as he heard his attackers taunt him from behind. He suddenly felt a sharp pain in his back and watched his HP bar drop into the red. He quickly dove into the town entrance and turned around to see his pursuers stuck a few feet from the town entrance. 

He sighed and picked himself back up, ignoring the jeers and taunts thrown his way. ‘Another day, another escape from the fanatics,’ he thought as he limped through the settlement. He opened his inventory and pulled out a health potion before downing it, watching as his HP slowly refilled back into the green. ‘My last one,’ he solemnly thought, ‘guess I gotta stock up before I head out again tomorrow.’ Finding a bench, he sat down and opened his character page, looking over the progress he made today. 

Omicron  
Lvl 9  
Guild: None  
Sword Proficiency: Lvl 26  
Col: 14,628  
Str: 16  
Dex: 43

‘Got another two levels today,’ he thought, as he glanced over the rest of the important stuff, ‘5000 Col too.’ Remembering he had to stock up on supplies, he quickly did the math in his head. ‘Each potion costs around 250 Col. So if I buy 10 a day, that should be 2500. I need to repair my weapon and armor at the end of each day, which costs around 2000 in total. Then the room in the inn, which is 200 a night and food, which is 50 per meal. Not to mention any emergency funds,’ he thought, ‘That should come out to around 4,850 Col a day.’ Once he got the total cost, he winced. Yeah, he really was going to have to step up his farming. Looking at the clock, he groaned as he stood. It would be a lot easier if those damn PKers stopped chasing him everytime he stepped out of the town. Fortunately, it really helped farm his Dex stat up a bit doing all that running but it was annoying as all hell. 

Looking around at the Town of Beginnings, Omicron let a small smile grace his face. After the initial panic during the first few days, it seemed a lot of people had managed to settle down. The town looked almost peaceful in the evening. Shaking his head, he made his way towards the merchant and purchased all of his items before heading over to the restaurant. He needed to grab some food and get back to his room before Sol did. She was not a fun person to be around when she was hungry. Looking over the selections, he went with two medium-sized egg sandwiches. Paying for his purchase, he made his way towards the inn. Waving his hand at the few players that were in the lounge, he made his way up to his room and went inside. Sitting at the table in the corner was his best friend and secret crush, Sol, full name Solaris Umaline. She raised her head and her eyes widened as she saw the small bag in his hand. 

“You got dinner?” she asked, trying to stay calm. 

Omicron chuckled as he placed the bag on the counter in front of him. “Of course I did. You always forget.”

“You know me too well,” she replied, grinning as she reached into the bag and pulled out one of the sandwiches. Opening the packaging, she took a whiff and sighed in happiness. “This is one of the times I’m very glad Kayaba let us have a sense of smell in the game,” she said, taking a bite out of the sandwich, the eggs threatening to spill out of the edge, “oh, and taste. Thank god for taste in this virtual world.” 

Omicron sat down across from her and watched her chow down on her dinner. Solaris Umaline. He knew her from school. They had met during orientation during first year and had been inseparable since. He found out she liked video games and having gotten an extra NerveGear from his parent’s company, he gave it to her along with an extra copy of SAO, telling her they could play together. He honestly just wanted to spend more time with her, and a virtual world seemed like the best idea to him at the time, especially since they lived so far from each other. 

‘I guess my wish came true after all,’ he thought darkly as he watched her polish off her sandwich. Raising her arms over her head, she stretched and then stood up. 

“I’m going to take a bath,” she said before skipping off to the bathroom and slipping inside. 

Omicron heard her turn on the water and then groan as she entered the water. He quickly opened his settings and pressed the deafen button and her voice quickly disappeared. Sighing in relief, he opened the handbook that Argo had given him. He was glad that he was close to the information broker. He was good friends with her from the SAO beta, along with that powerful sword wielder, Kirito was it? 

‘I wonder how he’s doing,’ he wondered, ‘Eh, I’m sure he’s fine.’ He could’ve sworn he saw someone who looked like him on the first day but he couldn’t find him again in the crowd of people. Turning back to the handbook, he read over the many sections as he waited for Sol to get out of the bathroom, making some corrections to send to Argo for the next version. He felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around to see Sol in her pajamas looking at him. Seeing that she had his attention, she pointed to the deafened icon next to his head. He quickly undeafened himself and Sol’s voice could be heard again. 

“Finally. I’ve been trying to get your attention for five minutes now,” she huffed in annoyance. Omicron noticed how cute she looked when she pouted. She hopped onto the bed and turned around to look at him again. “I’m assuming you’re not going to be joining me anytime soon? 

Omicron smiled at her and shook his head. “No, sorry. I need to look over some stuff Argo sent me first,” he told her as he turned back to the guidebook. She sighed, disappointed, but she nodded. 

“Remember to get some sleep alright? I don’t want you getting hurt because you’re too tired to fight,” she told him, slipping under the covers.

He gave her a small smile. “I will,” he assured her, “Now get some rest.” 

“Alright,” she mumbled as she snuggled into the covers. Omicron turned off the light in the room and opened his menu to look over the sword skills he would get further on as he leveled up. Soon, he could hear Sol’s soft breathing as she fell into a deep slumber. Standing up, he quietly made his way to the door, making sure not to wake his sleeping partner. Once there, he made one final glance at her sleeping form before slipping out. 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The cold night air of the first floor hit Omicron as he stepped out of the inn. He looked around and after finding no one spying on him, began walking towards a bench in the park located in the center of town. Sol wouldn’t like what he was doing. Hell, he didn’t like what he was doing. But if lying to her meant he would be able to keep her safe, then so be it. He sat down and waited. His informant wasn’t known to be late, and if he knew one thing, it was that she didn’t like breaking…

“Heya Omi,” he heard a voice next to him whisper. Jumping back slightly, he calmed down once he saw who was next to him. A brown cloak covering short dirty blonde hair? Check. Piercing yellow eyes that seemed to stare into your soul and drain you of every secret you had? Omicron shivered slightly. Check. Small smirk that gave off an air of confidence and authority? Check. Omicron smiled as he turned and looked at his friend in the eye. 

“Hey, Argo. What do you have for me today?” he asked, a small bit of excitement building up inside of him. He really shouldn't be doing this. And he definitely didn’t like doing this. Nope, definitely not one bit. But a small part of him couldn’t help but be excited for the adventure, for the mystery. He was a gamer at heart after all. Argo looked up and grinned at him, the dim light from the streetlamp making it look almost sinister. She opened her menu and pulled up a map.

“Well Omi, you ever wanted to explore a dangerous, possibly deadly labyrinth in hopes of finding something powerful?” she replied, her grin never leaving her face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys enjoy the beginning of this hopefully long and interesting journey. I wanted to do this because a lot of the other stories focused on Kirito and Asuna, and how they worked together. I wanted to do something different. Make a new story, that existed in the same world, and see how that would impact the outcome. You could call this my little experiment. Anyways, I will try and keep as many characters as in-character as possible, but some small things might be changed. I hope you enjoyed and please feel free to leave a review on any criticisms you have. This is my first story after all and I would love to hear how I can improve on it.


	3. The Old Village

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Omicron and Argo travel to Horunka Village to discover what differences there are from the beta.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All characters and story references belong to Reki Kawahara and associated companies. This story is meant to be a parody, and should be treated as such. Please go and support the official SAO content. Enjoy the story! :)

Omicron looks over at Argo in confusion and she chuckles. Moving her hand over the map currently open on her menu, she copies it and sends it over to Omicron. Omicron hears the familiar sound of a message being sent to his inbox and opens his menu. Clicking around, he finds Argo’s name, one of two, on his friend’s list and opens the message she sent him. He resisted the urge to jump back in surprise when the map suddenly appeared before him, showing him a small portion of the first floor.

“I’ve already compared it to the one in the beta,” Argo tells him as he quickly looks over it, mentally noting down locations that might seem interesting, “The floor is different. The change isn’t too big but a lot of the structures seem older, more run down. Some of the forest is missing and the labyrinth isn’t in the same place as before.” Omicron looks over at her questioningly. Argo simply opens up another window in her menu and motions for him to take a look. Shifting in his seat a little, he leans over to take a look. Her map was zoomed in on a small village he recognized from the beta.

“That's Horunka village right?” he asked her.

“It is,” she responded grinning, “why am I not surprised you remember it. After all, you and Ki-bou spent days farming out that quest for the [Anneal Blade].”

“Wasn’t that also where the labyrinth was for the first floor?” he questioned her.

“Yep! But now,” she shifted her map and zoomed in, “where the labyrinth was, it’s only trees.”

“So you want us to go look for it?” Omicron asked her as he tapped open his menu and equipped some potions in his quick use slot. 

“You gotcha. Gotta get the best info first,” she replied, closing her menu and standing up, “Besides, you gotta work for all that info I’m feeding you. Don’t be a freeloader.”

Omicron sighed and got up after her. “Thanks, Argo. I’m glad we’re working together.”

Argo smiled at him before walking away. “Don’t thank me yet Omi! You still hafta fight your way through that forest again tomorrow,” she called back to him over her shoulder.

Omicron shook his head as he slowly stalked back to the inn. Quietly sneaking back up to his room, he opened the door, making sure he made no noise. Unequipping his armor, he slid into the covers next to Sol, making sure not to wake her. Lying in bed, he turned over to look at Sol and thought of what could have been. He could’ve not given her the NerveGear, saving it for a Christmas present. He could’ve told her to not log in yet on the first day, making an excuse about how he wanted to check everything first. His parent’s company helped make the NerveGear for crying out loud, why didn’t they suspect anything was out of place? Looking at her sleeping face, so calm and peaceful, Omicron swore an oath to himself. ‘I swear Sol, we’re gonna get out of here. I’ll make sure of it. And when we do, I’ll tell you how I feel.” And with that thought, he slowly drifted off to sleep.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A flash of sunlight woke Omicron up as he wearily opened his eyes. Adjusting to the sudden brightness, he turned around in the bed to see that Sol had already left for the morning. ‘Figures,’ he thought as he yawned and stretched, ‘She’s the morning person and I’m the night owl.’ Equipping his gear, he reached for the sandwich that was left forgotten from last night. Biting into it, he made a quick mental checklist of what he needed to accomplish today. ‘Right, so first I need to meet up with Argo. Then we need to head over to Horunka, which should take 2-3 days. Investigating the forest and the Nepent Pod quest can be done the day after we get to the village’ he listed out as he munched on the egg sandwich, ‘Maybe I should get started on some skill upgrades? The [Stealth] skill seems to always be handy. Maybe something with status effects?’ As he polished off his breakfast, he opened his friend’s list and clicked on Sol’s name. Checking her location, she was in the west fields, he quickly sent her a message letting her know he was going to be out for the next few days.

O: Argo and I need to check something. You’ll be okay without me for a few days?  
S: Sure thing. I think I can remember dinner without you. 

Omicron grinned as he began imagining Sol’s cute pout when he teased her about her lack of memory. It seemed to be a persistent problem with her, whether it was in VR or in real life but it was one of her quirks. He quickly refocused as he heard another ping.

S: Where are you two going?  
O: Horunka. Need to check on the labyrinth entrance and the [Anneal Blade] quest.  
S: Okay. I’ll see you in a few days.

Omicron closed his chat menu and began making his way out of the inn. He began wondering where Sol went every day but brushed the thought away. ‘She’s probably leveling like I usually am. It would explain how she’s almost caught up to me in levels,’ he thought as he walked towards the teleport plaza. Argo was standing next to a pole waiting for him. The usually composed information broker seemed to be napping, her head bobbing up and down every so often. Once he got close, Omicron decided to wake his friend up with a little surprise. Pulling a bottle of cold water out of his inventory, he uncorked it and raised it near her face. He then proceeded to splash the entire content of the bottle on her, causing her to wake up with a noise he was not accustomed to hear her making. 

“Gyah!” Argo screeched as she got doused with ice-cold water. Looking around frantically, she locked her eyes on Omicron who was dying of laughter a few feet away. “Why you little,” she started as she began stalking towards him. Omicron quickly raised both his hands up in an attempt to placate the info broker’s anger but she seemed to be dead set on her objective. Omicron quickly scrambled towards the pillar next to him and managed to avoid one of Argo’s swipes as she swung at him. 

“Hey, hey,” he exclaimed, “I’m sorry! But shouldn’t we get going?”

Argo stopped mid-swing, blinking before slowly lowering her arm. “Sure,” she said before sending Omicron a party invite, “But don’t think I’m gonna forget this little incident, alright?” She turned towards him and he saw that her eyes promised him a world of pain. Omicron gulped and nodded, silently noting to himself to never piss off the info broker ever again. Argo smirked and began making her way towards the exit of the town. Omicron slowly followed her, making sure he kept an eye on her just in case she tried anything. 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Hyah!” Omicron screamed as he finished off yet another [Dire Wolf]. Behind him, Argo was slashing at a second wolf with her dagger. 

“I miss my claws,” she muttered as she pushed the blade into the wolf’s neck, shattering it into a million multi-colored polygons. Omicron turned around to look near her, checking for any additional enemies before he sheathed his sword. 

“That should be the last of them,” he said as he downed another health potion and watched as his HP replenished from orange back to full. Opening his menu, he opened his map. “Looks like we're about a ten minutes walk from the village,” he told her. The two of them continued walking south, occasionally stopping to kill some mobs. After around 14 minutes, they saw Horunka village in the distance. Argo quickly ran towards the town, blitzing past all the guards and heading straight towards the house that gave the quest for the labyrinth location in the beta. Shaking his head at her excitement, Omicron walked over to the NPC that gave the [Anneal Blade] quest. 

“Hello ma’am, do you need any help?” he asked her.

“Oh, yes. You see, my son is quite sick and the only thing that can save him is a pod from the [Little Nepent]. Unfortunately, it’s really dangerous and I can’t make the journey. Do you think you can help me?” she asked him.

“Of course, you can leave it to me,” he responded, giving one of the many responses that would accept the quest. 

“Oh thank you young man!” she exclaimed, “You can find the [Little Nepents] in a forest to the east of the village.

Omicron nods and walks away, heading towards Argo who had run back outside of the house, looking annoyed. Noticing him approaching, she walked towards him, the annoyed expression not leaving her face. 

“It's not there,” she told him, pushing past him to walk towards another house in the plaza, “The old man sent me to this house instead. The rumor was right, the labyrinth is in a different location this time around.” 

Omicron fell in behind her and the two beta testers made their way into another house, this one covered in vines. As they walked up the stairs, the wood creaked underneath them, threatening to break and snap at any moment. “Are you sure this is a quest spot and not an entrance to a horror dungeon?” he asked her, ducking under a cobweb. 

“Ha ha,” she laughed dryly as they entered through the rickety doorframe. Once inside, they split up. Omicron sifted through the debris in the collapsed portion of the room while Argo quickly looked over any papers or books leftover on the floor on tables. Standing up, Omicron turned towards Argo and shook his head before inclining his head towards the staircase that led further up the house. Argo nodded and together, they made their way up the broken staircase, making sure to avoid any missing steps. Reaching the top, they saw that the second floor was mainly made up of broken down doorways and missing floorboards. The only thing that really stood out was the open door at the end of the hallway with some candlelight coming out of it. Cautiously, the pair made their way down the hallway, hands on their weapons, eyes darting around everywhere. Reaching their objective, Argo turned towards Omicron, signaling with her hands that she would follow him in. He nodded and slowly pushed the door open. Dropping to the floor, he rolled into the room, sword drawn to find....

an empty rocking chair.

Omicron sighed and sheathed his weapon before yelling, “It’s clear!”

“Really?” was the response.

“Yes! Would I lie to you?”

“I don’t know Omi, ya seem like the kinda guy,” Argo said as she entered the room, smirking at him, “Then again, you haven’t been anything but the knight in shining armor for now so I guess I’ll trust ya.”

Rolling his eyes at the girl’s antics, Omicron turned away from her and towards the interior of the room. There was a desk littered with papers, the candle sat on top of it still burning. Omicron began walking towards the desk before something else caught his eye. A small patch of wood that had a different dust outline than everything else. “Hey, I’m gonna check this out,” he called out behind him, “You keep looking around here.”

“What, you got some secret loot you don’t wanna share with little ol’ me?” she teased.

Omicron didn’t answer her as he walked towards his point of interest. Turning around, he checked if Argo was watching him. Said girl was sitting on the desk, book in hand. Seeing that the info broker was deeply engrossed in the journals on the table, he turned back towards the wood panel. Brushing his fingers over it, he felt something click within the panel and it slide open, revealing a small box. Reaching down to pick it up, he noticed small runic symbols on the wood surrounding the box. Ignoring it for now, he retrieved the container, putting into his inventory for now before calling Argo over.

“Hey, I found something!” he yelled. 

Argo looked up from her reading and towards where he was crouched. Leaping off the desk, she walked over to him and crouched down, intently studying the runes on the side of the wood. 

“I can’t make heads or tails of it,” she said irritably, “But I’m willing to bet it has something to do with the first boss.” She scrolled open her menu and pulled out a recording crystal before snapping a picture of the message. She then turned towards him. “Was there anything else in there?” she asked suspiciously. Omicron debated telling her about the box but decided against it. He needed every advantage he could get and while he valued his friendship with Argo, he wanted to keep this a secret. 

“No,” he replied, looking her dead in the eye. Argo studied him for a little before nodding, although Omicron could see that she didn’t exactly trust him. 

“Alrighty then! I got what we needed. It seems the new boss labyrinth is somewhere in the South. Apparently, some kobolds have been seen in the area killing NPCs so I guess the boss is the same as before,” she listed off, “It also looks like the area is a high-level zone, we should be at least level 13 before we head over there.” She opened her menu and clicked open her map, looking through the different areas in the Southern part of the first floor. Her eyes settled on a small town named Tolbana, which she quickly marked. Turning to Omicron, she told him, “I’ll let everyone know about the location. Think you can make your way back on your own?”

Omicron nodded. “Yeah, I still have to finish the [Anneal Blade] quest remember?”

“Right. I’ll see ya then,” she said as she left the room.

Omicron walked over to the window and waited for Argo to pass the village perimeter before opening his menu. Maneuvering his way over to his inventory, he pulled out the box he had found in the floorboard. Activating his search skill, he checked for any eavesdropping players or NPCs. Finding none, he cautiously sat down at the desk and opened the box. He heard a loud ping, and a small quest window appeared before him. 

[Quest: New Dawn. Accept? Yes/No]

Omicron hesitated, before pressing the yes option. Another quest window opened up before him.

[Are you sure? This quest cannot be abandoned once picked up]

Omicron steeled himself and pressed the yes option. Both windows closed, leaving him in darkness for a few seconds before a new notification window appeared before him. 

[You have accepted the quest, New Dawn.]

Closing the first window, he looked at the second one that opened up.

[Skill Unlocked: Soul Reaper Lvl 1  
Description: For every monster/player you participate in the killing of, you receive a portion of their experience for yourself. Floor and Field bosses give the most progress]  
Omicron raised his eyebrow. He needed to test this out somehow. If this meant what he thought, then his leveling troubles were over. Pushing it to the back of his mind, he looked at the next to windows that appeared behind his new skill.

[You have received [The Cloak of Blinding]]  
[You have received the [Avium]]

Omicron was shocked. Clicking over to his inventory, he checked the stats on his new gear but was disappointed to see that it was worse than what he currently had on. Then he realized that the new weapon he got was a scythe. ‘A unique weapon?’ he thought as he studied it. Clicking down to the description, he began to read it. 

[Avium +1  
Description: This weapon is linked directly to the [New Dawn] quest. This weapon will never leave the owner as long as it is loyal to them. This weapon is enhanced as the quest [New Dawn] is progressed as well as along with the improvement of the [Soul Reaper] skill. There is no enhancement cap for this weapon.]

Omicron sat back in his chair. He had just hit the holy grail of equipment. A weapon with no enhancement cap? Most weapons could only be enhanced until +6, boss drops until +10 or +15. A weapon that was uncapped meant he could level it to +100 and have it viable between all floors. He would never have to grind for a weapon ever again. Excited about his find, he decided to check what the next step for the [New Dawn] quest was. If quest progression was the way to advance this powerful weapon, he wanted to complete it as fast as possible. Scrolling to his quest log, he opened it and clicked into the [New Dawn] questline. Once it opened, he read through it and then paused. Reading over it again, he nearly fell over in shock. Making sure it wasn’t a joke, he sighed and looked out the window at the setting sun. ‘Well, shit,’ he thought. As he glanced back at the open quest menu, his eyes rested on the glowing screen in front of him.

[Quest: New Dawn Part One  
Description: Defeat the Floor One Boss, Illfang the Kobold Lord, with less than 10% HP remaining]


	4. Friends and Enemies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All characters and story references belong to Reki Kawahara and associated companies. This story is meant to be a parody, and should be treated as such. Please go and support the official SAO content. Enjoy the story! :)

November 28th, 2022  
Time in SAO: 3 Weeks, 1 Day, 14 Hours

Sparks flew as Omicron clashed swords with yet another player killer, his opponent grinning the whole time the two fought. Leaping back, Omicron readied his sword for another strike, digging his left heel into the ground. Focusing his attention on his opponent, he watched his every move, every twitch of his arm, every step. Snapping back, he barely managed to avoid a knife shot towards his head. Flipping backward, he landed in a kneeled position before he dashed towards his enemy. Keeping his sword horizontal, he dashed past him before digging in his heel and doing a full 180-degree turn, leaping as he did. Bringing his sword down, he activated the skill [Vertical], bringing his sword up again for an upward strike. Connecting with the players’ arm, he continued his strike, cutting off the entire limb. His opponent screamed, dropping his weapon to the floor. Turning around to look at him on the floor, Omicron sheathed his weapon. 

“Maybe next time, don’t pick a fight with someone you can’t beat,” Omicron spat at him. Walking over to him, he bent down and picked up the dropped sword and held it in his hand. Glancing down at the player still writhing on the ground, he pondered if he should end it. It would be one less murderer in Aincrad if he did and no one would even know. The player was already orange. Glancing at the fallen player’s HP bar, he saw it was deep in the red. All it would take was one swing. Then he shivered, stepping back and shaking his head. No, that would be wrong. Spinning around, he drew his arm back and threw the sword as far as his [STR] allowed him to. Turning back to the downed player, he bent down and slammed his fist into the ground next to his head. “Listen to me very clearly,” he whispered, his voice getting extremely low, “because I’m only giving you one warning.” 

“I don’t need your warning you damn bastard!” the player yelled in his face, gripping the stump that used to be his arm. 

Omicron ignored him and continued talking. “If you come near me or my friends ever again,” he growled at him, “I will end you. Do you understand?” The other player just ignored him, glaring down at his arm. Omicron simply stood up and dusted himself off. Walking away, he heard the person behind him yell something. Turning around, he asked, “What was that?”

“This won’t be the last you hear of us! PoH will hear of this, and we’ll get you! So swears Red-Eyed XaXa!” the nowed named XaXa screamed at him. 

Omicron raised his eyebrow at him and smirked. “I would like to see him try.” Turning away, he started heading back towards the small camp he and Sol made in one of the nearby farmhouses. The second he made it out of the line of sight of XaXa, he let out a breath of air and unclenched his fists. Walking a little faster than normal, he began glancing around towards the trees and bushes, just in case XaXa had any friends lurking around. Entering the farmhouse, he glanced behind him for any stalkers before slamming the doors shut and locking them. 

“Hey! You’re back!”

Omicron jumped and already had his [Anneal Blade +4] unsheathed as he turned towards the source of the noise. Sol was sitting at the table cutting some cheese and her eyes widened as she saw his weapon pointed towards her. Seeing only her, he sighed and sheathed his weapon before sitting down in one of the hard wooden chairs by the table. 

“You alright?” Sol asked worriedly. 

Omicron put on a fake smile and turned towards her. “Yeah, nothing to be worried about.”

Sol looked unconvinced but nodded, turning back to the food she was preparing. “You know, we should check out that cave in the Southeast, one of the farmers told me…”

Omicron zoned her out as he shifted his gaze towards the ceiling. There was so much to worry about. He definitely pissed off XaXa and he had heard of PoH before. Argo had told him that he led a small band of player killers that roamed around the outskirts of the Town of Beginnings, killing anyone low level that wandered into the fields. They usually avoided higher level players but Omicron wasn’t sure why they targeted him so much. But pissing off a group of player killers was definitely not ideal. He could probably deal with some of them but a group of 10 -15 would mean certain death. He glanced towards Sol. She was happily humming a song as she finished preparing their dinner, blissfully oblivious to the danger that they were now in. He needed to make sure she wasn’t hurt when the PKers did eventually come for them. 

Looking down, he thought about his life outside. He never thought he would say this but he missed going to school. He missed the lessons his parents forced him to take. He missed going to executive board meetings with his father and learning about the company’s inner workings. But most of all, he missed his friends. It was hard for him to make friends, considering his parent’s position, but those he had he treasured. He missed his friend Micheal, a transfer student from France who he had met because they both were in the same foreign exchange program a few years ago. He missed his friend Shino, who was quiet and reserved and was bullied a lot for her past. He never asked her about it but it seemed traumatic so he didn’t push. And then there was Sol. She had been with him longer than anyone else, having moved with him and his family when they moved the company’s HQ from the USA to Japan. She knew almost everything about him, from his favorite foods to his music taste to his subtle hatred of his upbringing. 

He glanced up and watched her eyes as she happily prepared their dinner. Sol was his everything, his connection to the real world. He had to protect her, no matter the cost. His mind wandered to the [New Dawn] quest that sat in his quest log waiting to be completed. He had already leveled up his [Soul Reaper] skill to Lvl 15, and the results were showing. He was leveling up incredibly fast, almost twice as fast as before. He believed that he could reach Lvl 20 by the first boss room, which would set him miles above all the other players, who were still Lvl 12-15. But he had to kill the first-floor boss with 10% HP left, which was going to be tough. Even if he was over-leveled, the floor boss was no piece of cake. Not to mention his [Anneal Blade +4] could only do so much damage, and he didn’t want to use his scythe [Aevum] just yet. Not to mention the dangers of…

“...ello? You there? If you’re not gonna eat, I’m gonna steal your food.”

Omicron was pulled out his musings by Sol peeing at him, her face inches from his. He felt his face heat up and turned away from her. “Yeah, I’m good.”

“If you are, then eat,” she told him sternly, gesturing at the food on the table. Omicron turned back to the table and picked up a piece of bread, munching on it as Sol began to talk. 

“We’re about 2 days away from Tolbana Village. We should probably hit Lvl 13 by then, that should give us an advantage when we face the boss. I’m around Lvl 12, what about you?” she asked.

“Same,” Omicron quickly supplied, glancing up at his player tab that very clearly read Lvl 17. Not that he didn’t trust Sol, he just didn’t want to reveal his trump card just yet. After all, information seemed to spread like wildfire with Argo around and he really didn’t want anyone else learning about it from her because he knew no matter how much she liked you, she was a businesswoman first. 

“Oh wow! I actually managed to catch up to you,” she said happily.

‘Now I really can’t tell her, she seems so happy,’ he thought as he watched her grin at him, proud of her herself. ‘Maybe eventually, but for now, I need to keep her in the dark,’ he thought, ‘for her safety.’ 

Sol continued to talk, grin still on her face. “Well, since we’re so close in level, we should go out and level together! We can get more quests done with the two of us working together.”

Omicron pauses, looking at her cautiously. 

Sol rolls her eyes and looks him directly in his eye. “I’ll be fine. You don’t have to worry about me!”

Omicron sighs and nods, which prompts Sol to grin. “Yes! This is gonna be so much fun!” she exclaims, “It’ll just be the two of us, just like when we were kids!”

Omicron chuckled, his eyes dropping to the floor, “Yeah, just like the old days.” The two of them went quiet, the only thing breaking the silence being the occasional trill of a bird or the sound of the grass swaying in the wind outside. They stayed like this for a good while until Sol spoke up again. 

“Do you think we’ll ever go back home?” she asked. Omicron looked up at her and met her eyes but said nothing. She stared at him before continuing. “I mean, it's been three weeks and we haven’t even beat the first floor yet. At this rate it’ll take us over six years to reach the 100th one and who knows how many of us will be dead by then! And what about our families and...and our friends?!” She was getting hysterical at that point, and Omicron could see the small tears forming at the corners of her eyes. Reaching out, he pulled her into him, wrapping her into a hug and resting his head on top of hers. 

“We’ll get out of this. I promise you,” he whispered to her, yet he himself was unsure of the words he was saying. 

“Together? You promise?” she asked back, her voice soft. 

“I promise,” he told her, knowing full well there was a low chance he would be keeping it. Yes, he would try his damn best to get Sol out of this game alive. Whether he was with her at the end of that road, was a whole other story. 

“Ok,” she mumbled into his chest. They remain in each other’s arms for a few minutes, enjoying the closeness. After around 10 minutes, Sol slowly pulls away from Omicron and brushes her arms across her eyes. She gives him a watery smile before taking his hand. “Let’s go to bed yeah?” she asked. 

He smiled at her and replied, “Sure.”

She led him up a set of stairs to where a queen size bed sat. She let go of his hand and dropped into the comfortable blankets, snuggling under them and turning to face Omicron, who sat down at the edge of the bed. She looked at him with questioning eyes, but he shook his head. She sighed but nodded, turning away from him. Omicron got off the bed and walked to the landing for the staircase. Turning his head, he looked back at Sol. He wanted to go back there and get in bed with her. But he couldn’t. He needed to make sure he was strong enough to protect the two of them. And that meant going out at night.

He turned back to the stairs and slowly walked down it. Making his way towards the door of the barn, he turned again to look up at the bedroom again. Smiling sadly, he opened the door and slipped out. Glancing around his surroundings, Omicron unsheathed his [Anneal Blade +4]. Marking some enemies a few hundred meters away on his map, he began running towards them. 

He would get stronger. 

He needed to. 

For Sol.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gonna be uploading slower since I'm in college now. Hope you enjoyed!


End file.
